


Steven Universe: Gem Tour

by MatterEaterLad



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:13:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24074248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MatterEaterLad/pseuds/MatterEaterLad
Summary: Set about 22 years in the future of Steven Universe Future. Steven and Connie's lives have changed drastically, but they're still in it together. They've broken numerous records together, with Connie becoming the youngest President ever, and Steven becoming the first presidential husband to call himself "The First Boy".  This series is gonna be about Steven and his friends struggles as adults, but not in the taxes/my back is starting to hurt kind of way and more in the "the Presidents husband is a half alien hybrid who also has anxiety sometimes about her dying from old age" kind of way.
Relationships: Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	1. Presidential Pastries

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

Steven slowly opened his eyes, looking to his left for Connie. Her side was empty, meaning the coast was clear. They’ve lived together for 12 years now, but some things never change. His wife not being a morning person is one of them. He had to pace himself when she didn’t wake up before him. It doesn’t matter how many close calls he’ll have, nothing compares to Connie without her first two cups of coffee. Steven opened the blinds letting the sunlight in, and sighed as he walked out of the bedroom. He didn’t make it two steps before knocking into a secret service agent who landed on his butt. It should normally take a lot to knock a six-foot one man to the ground, but it wasn’t much of a challenge for Steven, who now towered over most everyone.

“Ah, sorry dude, you okay?” Steven picked the agent up from under his arms, standing him back up. He’s blushing like mad “Are you new here? I don’t recognise you at all.” He puts out his hand “I’m Steven by the way.” The agent raised an eyebrow wondering if he truly thinks its possible to be informed of current politics and not know who Steven Universe is.”

“A-ahem, yes sir I just transferred in. More importantly, Madam president wanted me to come make sure you were up and preparing for the conference today”

“Hah! That worry wart, I wouldn’t miss it for the world, Alek made me promise to show everybody long Steven next time.”

“A-Are you talking about Alek Popov? The Russian President? I don’t think it’s proper to refer to- actually, what is ‘long Steven’?” Steven suddenly shape shifts his torso 3 feet longer startling the poor man.

“It’s my newest little party trick. Hey, do you think it works better if I make the arms longer or the same size? I’ve also been work shopping a few jokes for trying to grab stuff that’s too close to the ground instead of how it’s usually high up, right? It goes like this right-” Stevens showing no signs of stopping his rambling as the agent looks on in awe at this cryptid of a man. Another secret service agent walks up and puts a hand on his shoulder

“Hey, I see you’ve met the Steven already. We probably shouldn’t have let you go alone, he can be a lot to take in if you’ve never met him before.” He clears his throat to get Stevens attention. “By the way, Steven, your pink friend is here with the catering, you should-” In a pink blur Steven was headed for the lobby.

It’s not hard to pick Lars out from a crowd, what with his entirely pink body, but it was even easier in his big space cool space coat. “Hey Lars! Are you about to leave with the Off Colors again? I thought you guys were staying on earth for a while.” Lars waved off the rest of the gems and humans carrying in boxes of pastries and deserts. 

“Y-yeah, about that, Steven… I really just… need to get off Earth for a while man.” Stevens' expression worried.

“Is something wrong?” Lars looked down at the ground.

“My dad was pretty badly sick the other day, we weren’t sure if he was gonna make it.” Steven gulped and took a step back

“Wait, wouldn’t that be a reason to stay then?”

“No, no- sorry, he’s fine now, it’s just…” Lars exhaled a heavy sigh. “And don’t take this the wrong way, I just realize they’re both really old now, and losing them is becoming a more and more prevalent thing I’ve gotta deal with.”

“Wait, how would I take that the wrong way…?”

“Steven you’re the one who did-” He gestures up and down himself. “-this to me when I… when we… y’know. I’m not mad or anything, I’m glad the story of Lars Barriga didn’t end on Homeworld back then. I just haven’t aged at all in the past 20 years.” Lars gasps and takes in a few deep breathes. 

“Everyone has to say goodbye to their parents at some point. I’m going to have to say goodbye to Sadie, Everyone in Beach City, hell, every human I know in general.” Lars’ head is in his hands at this point. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to vent like that, I just came to drop off this stuff and head off to clear my head for a while. I’ll see you later man.” Steven looks solemnly at the ground. He’s thought about death before, he’s not even talked about it with Connie yet but there are still a lot of possibilities swirling in his mind. He assumes he could die naturally, all it would take is for him to be ready for it and just- age his body to the point of no return. The problem is other people like Lars and his family, or Connie and his dad. Should he revive them too? Would they want that actually? Him and Connie are a pretty high-profile family now. It’s natural to assume if every member of his inner circle started turning pink people would catch on. By that point what right would he have to keep his friends and family alive but not any of the other countless millions of families in the world? Meanwhile, he’ll get sick to his stomach if he thinks about Connie dying and him not doing anything to stop it. If, Gem forbid, someone hurt her and she needed to be revived he would do it, so what's the difference between that and waiting a few more decades to revive her?

Steven was suddenly knocked out of his spiralling train of thought as he got a new text. It was from Connie, reaffirming his attendance of the conference. Steven focused on putting those thoughts away for right now. It wasn’t like he was a kid anymore, he could deal with his problems in time. He just had the added wisdom now to know not to deal with them head on no matter what was happening around him. Something told him even his wife’s patience would wear thin if he dragged her out of an important international conference with something that could wait. “C’mon Steven Universe, let’s do this already.” He slapped his cheeks a few times to hype himself up. It was gonna be a long night.

\------------------------------------------------------

“Steven! Please my friend, you must tell Ms. Meyer the story of your adventure to that water temple, da?” The Russian president was a little tipsy and had his arm over the shoulder of the German Prime Minister, Frieda Meyer. She was elected not too long ago and still wasn’t acclimated to this new style of political relationships that had emerged with everyone who came into contact with the current U.S Presidential family. 

“Err, Alek I think you’ve had a bit too much too drink.” Steven held his hands up apprehensively, trying to defuse the situation and save the new Prime Minister from having to take part in any embarrassing drunken antics. 

“I deserve it don’t I? These conferences are so dry, it’s only fair the we make the after party as you Americans say, ‘wild’, da?”

“I really don’t think only Americans say wild, man.” He was about to continue when a thin balding man came and grabbed the Russian President by the shoulders to escort him out. Clearly his entourage thought the same as Steven. “Sorry about that, Alek loses all sense of boundaries sometimes when he gets like… that. Did he make you uncomfortable at all?”

“It’s fine Mr. Universe, Mr. Popov seems like a nice enough man, perhaps it would be better to make friends once he is sober though.” A short gem, a Citrine, approaches carrying a few pages of stapled paper.

“Steven Sir, here is a report from Home-School and various other colonies, and also a schedule of events for the next few weeks, Sir!” She almost falls backwards from the force of standing at attention.

“Citrine, you can drop the sir stuff can’t you?” He ruffles her hair, she just got the job of being the White Houses gem correspondent, handling any issues with other official gem staff or complaints to the government. Citrine blushes and heads back into the crowd towards a group of men and gems in black suits. 

“What is that, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“Well, I’m sure you can understand not being able to be everywhere at once, both physically and mentally, so I have Citrine there summarise the boring work stuff with the gems over at Home-School and everywhere else. She also gives me an idea on what events they’re having in case I find something I wanna drop by.”

“So are you like the…. President of the Gems along with being the First Gentleman?” She raises an eyebrow.  
“Ha! No, no, I don’t think I could deal with that. They’re completely self-sufficient now, they just like to keep me informed in case I have any ideas I guess.” He flips through the pages a bit. “Me and my family near Home-School also have a rule, no talking about the boring work stuff, otherwise we’d both be at it for hours going over the details; Just, y’know, or feelings and the cool stuff.” Stevens' eyes drifted away to his wife in another crowd of people, probably discussing some smart person thing. Steven’s mind went back to his thoughts from earlier. “Hey, Ms. Meyer, I think I’m gonna retire, I’m pooped. Make sure you go say hi to everyone else, ok? The Australian PM over there has a killer recipe for Lamington cake that you absolutely have to learn.” They waved goodbye and Steven headed back to the main bedroom. He decided to get ready for bed, and mentally prepared himself in case Connie wasn’t too tired to talk about some things tonight.

\------------------------------------------------------

It was about two hours later when Connie finally arrived. She seemed exhausted, but Steven couldn’t begin to guess if it was from the nitty gritty of the conference or the chaos of the party. 

“Steven, are you here? You left the party pretty early from what I was told, is everything OK?” Connie took her suit jacket off and began to undo her tie. 

“Hey, Hun. I was just… er, well, if you weren’t too burned out from today I was wondering if we could talk about some stuff.” Connie had a worried expression.

“Yeah of course, I’m good, did anything happen today?”

“Well, it’s not like anything happened, it’s more like what I already did… and what I might do in the future.” Connie sat beside him on the bed and held his hand. “Lars talked to me a bit today when he dropped off his stuff. He’s dealing with the fact that he’s gonna outlive everyone he knows.”

“And you’re wondering what you can do to help him deal with that?”

“Well, yes, but I mean, I’m the one who did that to him in the first place.” Connie's eyes showed understanding as she realised he was talking about how he potentially doomed Lars. “He says he obviously is glad he’s not dead right now, I am too. I just know-” He stopped when he saw Connie's face.

“Steven Universe, you’re not one to focus on the past. I know that you know that what happens happens, you already know you’re gonna be there to help him work through it when the time comes.” Connie cleared her throat. “You’re worried about the future, about me, your dad, humans you’ll have to revive in the future.” Steven sighed with relief. He was glad Connie was so smart and close to him she knew what he was getting at without even explaining.

“Is… is that something you’d want?” Steven looked at her with puppy dog eyes.

“I’ve not really thought about it Steven. I’ve never thought about it from the perspective of not…” Steven looked down at the ground. “What about you, Biscuit? I wouldn’t want to leave you alone when I…”

“I-I’d be prepared to do whatever it takes so I can leave this world at the same time as you.” His other hand is on top of hers now. Connie starts laughing and wiping a tear from her eye.

“This is definitely not a healthy way to go about things, huh?” She had a point proclaiming you’d live or die for someone else only was a little bit of a codependency in both of them Steven thought.

“Wouldn’t… not doing it, be the same as giving up? If we have a chance to be together forever why deny it?” Steven knocked his fist against his forehead. “Agh, what am I saying? If I save you, then dad…. How am I supposed to justify not saving the rest of humanity? Steven's skin started to slightly turn pink by this point. “Especially if we want Gems and Humans to integrate, how are they supposed to do that if that barrier of death stops them?” Connie placed a hand on Stevens' shoulder.

“Steven… you’re glowing.” He looked down at his arms and legs and grabbed the sides of his head. This hadn’t happened to him in who knows how long, and this wasn’t an issue he could just hug out… how could he NOT think about the people most precious to him in the world dying? “Steven, look at me biscuit. You’re thinking you’re coming from a place of selfishness with your powers, but I think it’s really you wanting to save things you should just let be.” 

“But Connie-”

“Do you owe the rest of your existence to saving people?”

“Of course not-”

“Am I gonna have to place you on First Boy house arrest?” That got a chuckle out of him.

“No, no… I just…” Steven returned to his normal skin tone. “I wanna know that I’m not wasting my powers. I definitely don’t have that... Obsessive need to help for helps sake like back then. Heck, Connie I don’t think I’ve done anything but annoy the staff around here for the past month while watching movies!” They both finally fell back on the bed together. “I just wanna make sure I don’t take advantage of what I have. It’s a good thing I have you to pull me back when I need it.” They embraced on the bed together. “ He hated to spoil a good moment but he knew he had to reiterate his question to Connie. “So, er… would you want me to use my powers on you?” 

“Like I said Steven, I’ve only thought about my life in the context of anything other than a normal human, but I do think there may be a bit too much in this world for us to experience in one lifetime.” He knew Connie would be open and honest with him no matter what, and they still had plenty of time to live their lives. He internally groaned as he put ‘Talk to dad about this’ on his mental checklist. As they got under the covers and fell asleep together, a meeting room about 30 miles away from them was being adjourned. Its members of many national origins putting together a plan to present to the President, with the goal to use Gem spacefaring tech to expand humanity throughout the stars. Whether the Universe’s liked it or not, it was going to be a busy few weeks; Even for a President and her half alien husband.


	2. Beach City Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven heads down to Beach City for the first time in a long while and runs into some unexpected trouble in the form of these crazy teen alternative-punk-ska-whatever-whatever band his dad is managing now.

Steven was having the worst morning he’s had in a while. He was currently trying to decide between three outfits to wear on his trip back to Beach City and Little Homeworld. He knew his friends and family would just be happy to see him, but it’d been a while since he’d been out near there in so long he just wanted to pick something unique and cool. Connie wasn’t able to come with him this time around. She’s been busy with meetings lately, and she seemed to have something very important to attend to this morning; So she wasn’t able to help him. He decided to just press a small silver button on a wall near the bed. It only took a few minutes for a small, frail-looking older woman to step into the room.

“Yes, steven?” He sheepishly smiled at her and pointed to the clothes he had picked out. She walked over to the bed, humming and hawing for a moment before picking out what steven called a business casual casual casual outfit, also known as a normal casual outfit consisting of cutoff shorts, a dark blue version of his classic star t-shirt, and sandals, with the business part being the pink suit jacket he thought looked nice thrown over it. Normally someone might think otherwise of this combination, but people knew Stevens eccentricities well enough to not be surprised by anything he does. It helps that he can pull it off too.

“Thanks, May!” Not wanting to waste a second longer, Steven ran to the bedrooms windows and climbed outside, floating to the roof where a warp pad had been installed once Connie assumed office.

“Frankly I just don’t see the problem with showing them more at press junkets-”

“Our research shows most people enjoy having Gems around, but there is a growing sect of people who think-” 

*BLAM*

Steven landed on the roof with a heavy thud, so excited to head back to beach city he didn’t even notice the people talking near the warp. 

“Sorry-guys-please-don’t-tell-connie-I-almost-crashed-through-the-roof-again-ok-thanks-bye!” He rushed to get his words out as his body dissipated and turned to light in the warp stream.

“There goes Steven Universe.” says one of them, smirking to herself.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“OOOOOHHHH STEVEN!!!”

He hadn’t even fully materialized and someone had noticed his arrival. Purple arms had wrapped around his head faster than he could react.

“Steven! You didn’t tell me you were coming today!” Amethyst hopped off his head and Steven rolled his eyes.

“Sure I didn’t, that’s why you were waiting at this specific warp to jump on the next person that goes through it huh?”

She shrugged and stuck her tongue out at him. “Ya got me, I just wanted to hang out a bit before you got into to town and got hogged by everyone.” they had a separate warp installed in Berm City, which was only about 20 or so miles from Beach City. Numerous reasons were given for needing a warp there, but the real one was because Steven wanted to flex his driving muscles whenever he visited. His face reddened as he thought how it must look to make a separate warp and buy a whole other car just so he could have fun every now and then but quickly pushed it out of his mind as he and Amethyst jumped in the car.

“So how’s the married-presidential life Ste-man?”

“Oh, y’know. I mainly just- play video games and walk around town.” Amethyst quirked an eyebrow at him.

“So it’s exactly the same as before huh?” Steven shrugged a bit.

“Same lifestyle, different, huge, fancy house, and 24/7 security personnel. You would not believe how long it took for me to convince them they don’t need to guard me at all.” They laughed some more. “It IS cool to have people doing laundry and cooking for us again. When Connie was doing her business stuff I never could quite get the folding thing down.”

“Oh! Speaking of that whole clothes thing you do-- I think Blue Quartz has been getting into it. She’s been wearing a bunch of hats every day.”

“That’s cool that she likes to switch it up, what kind does she wear the most?”

“Well no, like, she wears them all the most? She stacks like fifty hats on top of each other. She keeps saying she’s smartly dressed but I don’t think she quite understands what that means. I was gonna say something but Sherry Topaz is helping her by following her around to make sure none of the hats fall so I just let ‘em at it.” Amethyst continues talking about what’s been happening and Steven let his driving fall into a rhythm as he listens to her talk. Suddenly she sighs and looks out through the window.

“Amethyst? What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing important, I just really miss- this, y’know man?”

“Talking? You can face chat with me any time you need to talk, ok? Or just ask if I can come down for a bit and-”

“I don’t mean talking about anything important, I just mean talking about the stupid stuff that goes on. I miss just hangin’ out for no reason.” 

“I- I know what you mean Amethyst. I really wish we could just come over whenever and hang out for a weekend or so. You know what we have to deal with now though. I can’t just leave Connie to deal with running the country by herself, and I don’t think I could get her to leave for more than a day or two when it’s not a holiday anyway.”

“Tell her to let the vice president handle it, that’s what he’s there for right?”

“Um, I don’t think that’s exactly what he’s there for.” Steven slowed the car as the entered Beach City, soaking everything in. It’s different in a lot of ways, even from when he last visited a few about a year ago. The Big Donut was about the only fixture to the city that had stayed constant, even Fish Stew Pizza had changed, with a redesigned sign currently being affixed by two tall gems with the guidance of Kofi. Steven made a mental note to check on how Kiki and Jenny were doing, along with the rest of the Cool Kids once he got done catching up with the Gems. He also thought back to his questions for his dad, sort of hoping his dad would be out of town. He still toured quite a bit, even at his age, so it was a very real possibility. No such luck, as he pulled up to the Temple and his Van parked out front. They parked beside and started to walk up the stairs before Steven stopped and hugged Amethyst.

“Woah, dude?”

“I feel the same way, Amethyst… I promise next chance we get to stay down here we’re gonna hang out so much you’ll be sick of us, ok?” Amethyst wiped a stray tear away.

“Let’s go inside before anyone thinks we…. CaRe FoR eAcHoThEr OoOh!” Steven mimicked a shocked and disgusted face before they both laughed at the other one.

“Yo Greg you in here?”

“Oh, Amethyst, did Steven ever tell you specifically what time he was coming? I thought we could-” He turned the corner of the stairs to the bedroom and saw Steven.

“Surprise! Heh, I did actually give a time I was coming over but I guess Amethyst wasn’t the best choice to tell you guys.”

“Who cares buddy, how you been?! We’ve watched all of you and Connies’ conferences, you guys are doing great!”

“Hey, hey, I hear enough about that stuff, I wanna hear what you’ve been up to, hows that new band you’re managing?”

“Oh, they’re Just Another Stupid Band!”

“I- w-what?”

“Sorry, that’s their band name… we call em JASB for short. It’s got a ring to it doesn’t it?”

“It’s definitely unique, dad.” Steven holds his tongue on any critiques of their name since he hadn’t exactly kept up with modern music trends, so maybe post-modern-ironic-ironic naming schemes were back in style?

“Hey, do you wanna meet them? They’re really cool.” Before he could even say anything Greg was on his phone texting. “I just told them to meet us on the boardwalk if they want, but I mean who wouldn’t?” Greg laughed and Steven hesitantly joined in. He was down with meeting some new people before he went to find the rest of the gems; constant introductions were just part and parcel to his life.

It didn’t take long to reach the town. As they passed all the stores on the street to the boardwalk they met with Sour Cream.

“Heeey Stee-ven my man, what’s up?”

“Hey SC, that’s awesome we’re both back in town at the same time!”

“Actually I’ve been just chilling here for like… a month or two man. After I got done in Crest City I decided to take a break to just find a new sound y’know?”

“Hey Sour Cream, you wanna come see JASB with us?” Greg chimed in.

“Maybe later you guys, I’m heading to the warehouse to work on some new beats. I’ve been trying to find myself a new ‘sound’, y’know?” He looked down at Amethyst and gasped. “Hey! I’ve been looking for you, man. You have a crazy whip, right? Can I throw a bunch of things at you to break and see what they sound like?” Amethyst shrugged.

“I like getting stuff thrown at me. Later Steven!” He waved as they ran off.

When they finally got to the boardwalk there were three people standing at the edge of the dock talking.

“Hey guys! Could Combo not make it?” Greg said to a red-headed boy wearing headphones, who turned to them and waved. 

“Nah, he was taking a power nap when we left and we didn’t want to wake him.”   
Greg turned over to Steven.

“OK, so this is Beat, Cube, and YoYo. Oh, and there’s a fourth guy who’s not here right now, Combo, but you can meet him later I guess.”

“Sup, dude. You’re dad’s told us a lot about you.” The redhead was still bobbing his head up and down, and faint music could be heard past his headphones, so Steven wondered how he could talk or hear anyone at all.

“Haha, I don’t think anyone should listen to what that crazy old man has to say.” Steven said sheepishly. Greg tussled his hair a bit from that playful comment.

“Yo, even if he never talked about you you’re on TV like, all the time bro!” The shorter, hoodie-wearing member of the group piped in. “I’m YoYo, bee-tee-dubs.” He smiled at the teen before Beat interrupted by clearing his throat.

“Cube? What are you doing, come say hi to Steven, man.” Standing off to the side slightly behind the two was a kind of goth looking, black-haired girl with blue lipstick. 

“Hey, it’s good to meet you.” Steven smiled at her.

“...yeah.” There was a slight pause in the conversation. YoYo nudged her with his elbow.

“She’s really nervous to meet you Yo, don’t worry!” Suddenly a phone started ringing. Greg jumped up.

“Oh, I gotta take this, I think this is the organizer for that concert venue in Ptoona City, I’ll see you guys later!”

“Ah, wait dad-” He was already gone. Oh well, he’ll get to know these guys a bit before heading to see the gems.

“Yo, so is it true you guys put a bunch of game systems on Air Force One?”

“Er, it’s really just a Blueberry Phi system Connie set up for us-” Steven blushes and marvels at how word travels even about the ongoings on a private plane. YoYo and Beat high five.

“Man, you gotta show us when they come to pick you back up!”

“Sorry, I didn’t come here by plane you guys.”

“Did you use one of those gem warp things?”

“Part of the way yeah, there’s one we put outside of town where I have a car stored. It’s silly but I just… like to come into town in it I guess. It helps if I need to go somewhere else while staying here too.”

“Dude, you have a car just for down here? That is SO crazy! If I could do that I’d worry I wasn’t using one or the other enough!” 

“Hah! I know what you mean.” Steven and Beat laughed.

“Tch, don’t say that fake shit. It probably doesn’t matter how much use you get out of it. You lock yourself out of it, you call a car dealer instead of a locksmith, am I right?” Cube interrupted the flow of questions.

“W-What does that mean?”

“I mean, it must be nice to be able to have anything you want when you want it.” Cube was glaring at him.

“Yo, what’s all this about? Don’t be a jerk cube.”

“Why does it matter if I’m rude to him or not? You’re not really sticking up for some rich and famous asshole are you YoYo?” Beat put a hand on her shoulder.

“C’mon, Greg’s rich too Cube, and I can already tell Steven’s a cool dude! He’s nothin’ like any of those other rich-and-powerful types.

“Greg’s supported us from the beginning, and he works his ass off for us to boot, but I don’t see an umpteen amount of specials or interviews with him like his son has.” She looks over at Steven again and flips her hair up. “I’m sure you’re a decent guy, but there’s no way someone like you could ever be my friend. You’re just another part of the system. How could you actually relate to any of our issues like that.”

“Hey Hey, Cube, I know I’m technically really high up and stuff but-”

“Nah, you’re not just ‘high up’. You’re always rubbing elbows with those politicians, you’re practically royalty to the gems, right? And you’ve never even had to worry about not being able to eat or afford rent or anything. You wanna know what bein’ me’s like? Before the band I was waiting tables at a shitty restaurant, barely making enough even on a week when my tips weren’t stolen. If we don’t make it big the most we’ll ever have to fame is one of our songs being licensed to some shitty movie.” 

Steven’s skin felt hot and prickly. He couldn’t tell if he was just red or starting to glow pink.

“U-Um, ah…” Steven couldn’t believe this teenager was getting to him. 

“Yo, Steven don’t let her get to you-Cube! Say sorry man, he’s really upset!” Cube didn’t respond as she angrily walked away. Beat looked back and forth between Steven and Cube.

“I better go too you guys, I still haven’t met up with the gems.” his laugh trembles and he gives them a forced smile. Beat says sorry again before him and YoYo go to follow Cube.

Steven slowly made his way back to the warp at the house, along the way thinking of what just happened. As much as he hated it, he realized that Cube had very good points. Maybe he had lost touch with most people in that way. He certainly had more privileges than a normal human or gem. At least as a kid, it made sense he didn’t worry about anything, but it’d make sense for that to become a point of resentment in an adult. He wondered if he should try and talk to her again before he left. Steven debated with himself on whether or not this would count towards his compulsive helpfulness or if it would just be his standard brand of socializing with someone who kind of wants nothing to do with him. He was walking up the temple stairs finally and opened the door. His dad was still talking up in the bedroom. A flash of light later and Steven was in little homeworld. A bunch of gems saw him as he appeared. It looked like they were carrying swing sets and slides. One of them was Bismuth.

“Huh? Hey, Steven! There you are!” She looks over to the other gems. “Do you guys mind?”

“We got it Bismuth! C’mon gang~” A funky looking Aventurine leads the rest of the gems to wherever they’re going.

“Woah, are you guys making a little play area or something?”

“Exactly, we realized we have plenty to do around here for everyone but kids. They don’t exactly find classes or counseling fun, and we can only organize so many activities at once.” Bismuth playfully punches Steven in the shoulder. “But what about you! You said you were coming but didn’t say when.”

“Yeah yeah, I’ve heard it already.” They laugh and start walking through little homeworlds bustling main street.

“You got our recent report right? You gonna stop by the Talent show next week? Here to scope out the competition maybe?”

“Not exactly, bismuth. I can’t stay long. I had some stuff I gotta talk about with dad after I catch up with you guys, and now…”

“Woah, I know that face, what’s the matter?”

“This new band dad’s managing. I met with them, they’re cool people. But one of the members said some stuff that I can’t help but wonder if she’s right about.” Bismuth leads steven to an almost empty dining area and they sit together.

“What… did she say?” Steven explains Cubes points on him basically being out of touch with normal people.

“I think she’s right Bismuth. I can’t really get to know or help anyone outside my bubble. I’ve never experienced the hardships a normal person’s had.”

“Right, because you’re not. You’re half gem Steven, remember?”

“I mean even past that, me being half gem isn’t what made my dad rich. It didn’t give me this huge support net I have for myself. It’s not integral to being half gem that I get to talk and party with world leaders.”

“You’re right.”

“And me being part gem- wait, what?”

“You’re right, Steven. Being part Gem didn’t give you those things, which means you were on equal ground with every other human, doesn’t it? You didn’t marry Connie because you’re a Gem, it was because you’re Steven.” She clasps her hands over his. “Yeah, you definitely don’t have to worry about things like having no one there for you, or worrying about money, but that doesn’t erase you’re problems. You’re basically the face of Gem-Human relations for both sides and there’s not much we can do about that.”

“Yeah…? But I’m not sure if that’s the same really…”

“Look at it like this. Why do you have to take breaks from Gem stuff?”

“For, y’know, mental stuff.”

“So that’s the same as saying what you have to worry about is stressful, and you worry about it right?”

“I see your point but I don’t have to worry about my survival when I look at Gem issues.”

“What about Connie then? She’s never had to worry about money after her business ventures took off. She also has you and us to help her too, and even she needs a break regularly too.”

“That’s different though!” She shrugs her shoulders.

“You both have pressures of an entire nation on you, even if you have the luxury of being able to live comfortably and rest and recover as much as you want.”

“Connie worked for what she has too though…”

“Steven, money would be the least of anyone on Earths problems if you hadn’t been able to convince the diamonds, you’ve worked plenty as well.”

“So she’s wrong then? Do I need to… convince her?”

“Hey hey, I never said she was wrong either. Just because you both deal with different things, doesn’t invalidate the other person's struggles. And also… buddy….” Steven put his hands up in a defensive gesture.

“No, don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not on a help-everyone kick right now. I thought I needed to help her too… but I just realized I really wanted to help her to convince myself.” Bismuth raises an eyebrow at Steven. “I still want to talk to her. No matter how hard I try, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to just… leave someone with a closed off heart to me alone. I wanna talk to her, at least once”

“Heh, well you better hurry bud… Garnet and Pearl are doing a lecture right now on comedy. I think it’s almost over, and I know for a fact they’re not gonna let you go anywhere else if they see you. Steven stood still for a minute trying to picture what humor taught by those two would be like before shuddering and thanking Bismuth. A trail of pink followed him as he ran to warp. Running all the way from the temple to the top of The Big Donut for a vantage point. He scanned the area and saw Cube leaning on the window of a breezeway between two stores. He jumped over to her and fake coughed a few times to let his presence be known.

“Hey… Cube.” He flashed an embarrassed smile at her. 

“...”

“Sorry if we got off on the wrong foot earlier. I-” Steven stops and sighs, sitting next to Cube. “Look, I wanna be real with you. I don’t have any first hand experience with the specific problems you guys face. I don’t wanna come off as some out of touch adult talking down to you. I know there’s no realistic way for us to be friends-friends what with our age difference and experiences and stuff, but I’d at least like for us to be friendly and understand each other.”

Cube sighs herself. “Yeah, yeah. I know you mean the best. I said all that stuff to you knowing what you went through growing up. It was kind of stupid for me to dump it all on you and try to compare the two. You got were you are by all that hard work jazz. I’m just, not there yet.”

“That’s the thing! I may look all cool and put together-”

“Cool is a separate thing.” Steven pauses for a second at the joke, but they end up both laughing to relieve the tension.

“Well, put together then; Anyways, I’m still working on myself. It’s been a while since I’ve had to go to someone else for help, but I actually learned that lesson a long time ago. When you said that stuff to me I had no clue how to react. If I was all done growing myself I might have brushed it off and kept going, but that’s impossible. We’re both our own people and we have our own problems that we have to deal with. I sincerely hope I never become one of those stereotypical adults like that.”

“I guess you elite types aren’t so bad after all, huh…”

“I wouldn’t go that far. I’m OK I think, my wife is awesome, and I think the dudes who run Wacky Sacks are cool… other than that most of those guys are kinda exactly as you described.”

“Hah, figured. There’s always gonna be shitty adults anywhere you go.”

“The only thing you can do is be cool yourself... counteract their…”

“Wait, do you have a thing against like, cursing?”

“N-not exactly, I just… haven’t really before.” Steven started blushing.

“Hah! That’s probably the most sheltered thing you’ve done so far. C’mon, haven’t you ever just said damn or shit or something to spice up a conversation?” She started nudging Steven. “C’mon, you can do it! I’m like, way younger than you, don’t make me treat you like my little brother!” Steven rolled his eyes before standing up in a battle stance.

“Just watch me! SHII-”

“STEVEN!” A high pitched voice cut him off. He looked back before cringing, realizing who it was.

“Sorry pal, I couldn’t take the heat. Had to tell them where you were.” Bismuth says amidst the group of Gems she brought with her.

“What did you just say, young man? I know I didn’t teach you that language. You’re fully grown but you should still have some manners. Where did you learn that word from? Don’t make me say it myself mister! I want you to-” Pearl was going full motherly scolding mode, thankfully Garnet picked her up and moved her out of the way as Lapis and Peridot stepped up to him.

“Steven, why didn’t you come see us at Little Homeworld? We still have so many new Meep Morps to show you!”

“Don’t worry Lapis, I just had to take care of some things, I swear I was just heading over there. Oh! Hey Peridot, how’s your game stuff coming along?” Aside from the main Crystal Gems, Peridot was one of the ones who had experienced the most earth has to offer. Somehow she’s managed to juggle farming, blogging, TubeTubing, and most recently, game development.”

“I’ve taken your input from last time into consideration and have vastly simplified the control and goal structure entirely.” Her first game was apparently a one to one recreation of what it would be like for an organic to control and repair a Gem space fighter ship. It had about 200 different button combinations for inputs and so many UI elements you couldn’t see a thing, so Steven had told her to maybe try and tone it down for a normal person.

“Steven, we’d like you to come back with us. You’re not planning on staying over so you have a lot of family time to catch up on.” Garnet smirked, still holding a fuming Pearl.

“Hehe, right.” Steven gulped, anticipating the day of running around with all the Gems and people of Beach City. It was gonna be exhausting, but he was going to savor the chance to hang out with everyone while he could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for going like 3 weeks without updating... this chapter was literally a million words long so I cut it down as much as I could. The next chapter won't be too long hopefully cause I'll just reformat the rest of this one. Also I hope you caught the Jet Set Radio ref's with those characters; I know can't stop thinking about a JSR or Tony Hawk game with Steven Universe characters. I really wanna see Pearl shred a long board or Peridot rollerskating and spray painting green alien heads on everything.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, I've never written a fiction story, or even something as long as this ever without it being part of a school thing. I still have no clue how to format dialogue so it looks cool. Anyway I appreciate all feedback; I tried to edit out all the mistakes from the initial writing but I guess I never knew how hard it is to read your own stuff. Updates are gonna hopefully be once a week with each one having a problem for the Stegang (patent pending name) to deal with that leads into the next one.
> 
> And if you were wondering the title IS supposed to be like Dragon Ball GT because I can't think of anything else and that just stuck.


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